Tom MacInnes

Anthology Tom MacInnes

Tom MacInnes is considered by many as one of the most original Canadian writers of all time. Raised in the Canadian Wild West in the latter half of the 19th century, he witnessed the Gold Rush, which became the subject of his first published work, A Romance of the Lost (1908). While Canada was encouraging immigrant Chinese coolies for the construction of the Canadian railways, MacInnes himself traveled to China to work in the development of the public transport system. After some years, this liberal mind became an ardent nativist, opposing the Yellow Peril then threatening the British fabric of Canada and founding the Canadian Nationalist League.

A soul of fire in a land of ice, MacInnes embraced poetry in his middle years, developing a unique style with unfamiliar and idiosyncratic forms, inspired by medieval France. Still he was regarded as "futurist" by his contemporaries, and he sometimes claimed that he was writing for a public yet to be. Unfortunately for posterity, he has been forgotten... but hopefully, no longer!